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This message takes us into the uneasy world of Esther, where power, beauty, and survival collide. What does it mean to live faithfully when the culture around you pulls in another direction — and when even the people we might have called Biblical heroes are more complicated than our “Sunday School” understanding? Come discover where hope is found when imperfect people are caught up in a story bigger than themselves…. A story that ultimately points to Jesus!

For those raised in Christianity, there is a Sunday School/Veggie Tales version of the story of Esther you may be familiar with. The good guys and bad guys are firmly defined, crisis is heroically averted, and everyone lives happily ever after A more serious study of Esther, though, reveals a very difficult and dark book with a very adult subtext of cruel power, misogyny, genocide, cultural compromise and even sex trafficking. Sounds a little bit like our world in 2026, doesn’t it? Worst of all, it’s a story where, at first glance, God seems strangely silent and aloof. I wonder how many of you feel that way in your own life? But it’s still a true story of great hope. That even when God may seem absent, He is at work, acting for our good and His glory.

The Final Say | The Voice - Part 6 So we’ve spent the last 5 weeks trying to persuade you that hearing God’s voice in 2026 ought to be a fairly normative Christian experience. Yay NAC, for not really needing much persuading. This Church has a rich history of hearing God's voice. Now, this may feel a bit like a carpet-pull or a backtrack, but this Sunday let’s talk about maintaining some balance in this, lest we move from one ditch (God NEVER speaks) to another (I ONLY need God’s Rhema word). Like so much else in the Christian life, we hold two true things together, sometimes in tension, wanting to get the balance right! Join us for the wrap up of this important series. Not only CAN He; God actually WANTS to give you guidance for life!

OK. If you’ve stuck with us for THIS long, you may be willing to concede that God HAS spoken, IS speaking and WILL speak. You might be willing to concede He is speaking even if we haven’t quite attuned our ears to the Voice yet. You might even be willing to concede that God actually HAS spoken to you, even if that’s not the exact phrase you would have used If you can agree to those things, I think you will find this Sunday the most practical and applicable of all the teaching thus far. This is where we really utilize His Voice in our day-to-day decisions. Let’s talk about those decisions, big and small. The crossroads we face and wish that God would point us in the right way. Not only CAN He; God actually WANTS to give you guidance for life!

Maybe you’ve already heard this story Elijah, already a Prophet of God and used to receiving messages from God, is told by God to stand on a mountain. While on the mountain, a great windstorm arrives, so strong it splits rocks! But God wasn’t speaking through the dramatic storm. Then comes an earthquake! Again, God wasn’t speaking through it. Afterwards comes a fire! God wasn’t in the fire. God must’ve really come out with something even MORE dramatic, right? No, it turns out God was in “the still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:11-12) There’s a few applications for us in there, but one of them for me is this. With the podcasts on and the phone notifications buzzing and Oilers games back on the schedule… with all the NOISE… when is there even an opportunity to hear that “still, small voice”? And if I keep ignoring it or drowning it out, will God still keep speaking?

It seems many Christians read the Bible primarily to know ABOUT God. That’s a good thing. The Revelation of Scripture will tell you much about God’s character, works and plans. It tells you about the stories of Him interacting with the saints of old. You’ll notice, though, these are by and large PAST TENSE interactions, including reading about what God SAID… (as in, thousands of years ago). What if we engaged with the Bible more in the PRESENT tense? What if, in fact, it might be the primary method God speaks into our life TODAY? We of course don’t assume that (for instance) because God told Noah to build an ark, that same directive applies to ALL Christians. I’m not even sure where I’d PUT an ark. We have enough problems finding a space for my daughter’s car. BUT, in God’s goodness and the Holy Spirit’s illumination, God may use the story of Noah to illuminate something, encourage you, convict you and even speak into your circumstances now. No other book on earth can make that supernatural claim. It’s why we call it a living, breathing word.

What if… What if hearing from God isn’t just a nice extra for the especially spiritual… but something every Christ-follower actually needs? What if God wants to speak into the battles you’re facing, the decisions you’re making, the dangers you can’t see, and the storms raging inside you? What would change if you really believed God wanted to communicate with you—not just as your King, but as your Father… even as your very source of life? Maybe the question isn’t simply, “Does God still speak?” Maybe it’s, “How much do I NEED Him to?”

What if God is still speaking, but we never learned how to listen? In a world filled with notifications, opinions, headlines, and endless noise, recognizing God’s voice can feel harder than ever. But God has not gone silent. He still speaks, still guides, still reveals His heart, and still invites us to listen. The question isn’t simply, “Does God speak today?” — it’s “Would we recognize His voice if we heard it?” This Fall at NAC, be prepared to have your prayer life turned from a monologue to a dialogue. Get in the practice of actually asking Jesus, "What should I do?" and then expect to hear an answer. In this 6-week series, we propose that even in 2026, the “Good Shepherd” is speaking to us. The question is, do you recognize “the Voice”?

I wonder sometimes if a Lead Pastor’s main role is to be the C.R.O. The “Chief REMINDING Officer”. For most of us in the Church, we aren’t being told NEW information, but we need weekly reminders of who God is, of who we are and WHOSE we are. Much of the Psalms act as a reminder of the acts of God, the faithfulness of God, and the goodness of God. We don’t “forget” God in the way the term is typically used… in the way we forget our passwords or the name of our cousin’s new boyfriend… but perhaps the biggest struggle for all Christians is “forgetting God” in such a way that sidelines Him in our life; going to every other comfort or resource before we remember to turn to Him. If for no other reason, these are important Psalms because Scripture records at least 200 versions of the same call to “Remember God”

There’s an old-timey word I (Jonathan) like a lot… “comeuppance”. It is literally derived from the idea of “coming up” in front of a Court or Judge and getting “what’s coming to you”. It’s why I’m a sucker for things like the Reacher TV series and books. Every week, some bully is getting punched in the nose. It’s very satisfying. That’s not necessarily something I’m proud of. More on that later. In numerous places in the Psalms, you’ll read some pretty graphic details of prayer requests that God might “smash the teeth”, “dash them against the rocks”, “blot out their memory”, or that “hot coals would rain on” their enemies. In other words, a lot more severe than a bloody nose. How do we reconcile this with the “turn the other cheek” message of Jesus? Some may ask why these verses are even in the Bible at all. It could all use a bit of unpacking, but it may end up raising an unexpected question. Am I actually angry ENOUGH?

If we did a sermon for every Psalm, we’d wrap up in time for Fall… 2029! But there are certain Psalms that we’ll cover briefly this Sunday (8, 29, 33, 65 & 104) that fall into some similar themes and exhortations. We might call these the Songs of the Creator. I know there’s a portion of folks at NAC who most “connect” to God through worship music; others through intellectual pursuits like Bible Study; others through action and service (among many other pathways), but I know for certain there is a great number of you who sense God most keenly through His creation. Then once it gets deep into your heart that the creator and sustainer of the universe has actually taken a personal interest and concern for just YOU… His child… well, that’s a spiritual game-changer.

The 42nd Psalm is a beloved one. It is often remembered for lines like: “As the deer panteth for the water so too my soul longeth after You, God” Others may know it for this timeless question (and wise answer): Why so downcast, O my soul… Put your hope in God” A modern translation, though, makes a challenging and intriguing statement of the Psalmist “emptying the pockets of my life”. What does that mean, particularly for us today? What’s the connection to water and lament and sort of “preaching to yourself”? After last week’s great dramatic approach to the narratives of Jesus, we’re in for another treat with a more immersive, character-driven dive into this essential Psalm.

What does it look like to live under a shelter you can’t see — yet somehow can feel — when fear is loud, and danger feels close? Psalm 91 has actually, for thousands of years, been the “go-to” scripture for spiritual battle and deliverance. How do we recognize spiritual attack versus ordinary trouble? Could refuge be less about avoiding risk and more about where we run when the storm hits? Come curious, bring your doubts, and see which questions (and hopefully some answers) this psalm opens for you.

It’s a dichotomy as old as humanity itself. We’ve been wrestling with this since Job. God is Good (“all the time”), and yet bad things… ugly things do happen in this world. They happen to faithful Christ followers. It’s a theme that comes up again and again in the Psalms, and it’s always addressed in an unvarnished, healthy, authentic way. For many, this supposed contradiction ends up being the cause of their abandoned faith. Let it not be so of us as we wrestle with a deeper understanding of serving the God of the good, bad and ugly.

How are we going to talk about the Psalms all summer without talking about its primary emphasis: Praise! And not just a reverent, intellectually focused, “polite” praise, but according to Psalm 150 (among others), a rip-roaring, “bring the noise”, boisterous kind of praise. The kind where King David unembarrassingly says: “Oh, you think THIS worship is undignified? You ain’t seen nothing yet” Don’t worry. No one is going to convert you to a chandelier-swinging holy roller, but there may be some blind spots we all have regarding this key instruction from that Lord, that EVERYTHING with breath was made to PRAISE HIM! This Sunday’s “Soul Music” is truly music for the soul.